Recently, the Seoul government of South Korea has been criticized by the public for an "outdated" guide for pregnant women, which has caused a lot of controversy.
On the website of Seoul Pregnancy Information Center, this guide for pregnant women divides the relevant information into three stages in detail: early pregnancy (1 thoughtful 12 weeks), middle pregnancy (13 to 27 weeks) and late pregnancy (28 to 40 weeks).
Some contents really sound feasible at first glance, such as preventing sudden labor pains and entrusting the boss at home to relatives and friends in advance; Prepare two business cards in advance, one for the family and one for the pregnant woman.
However, some suggestions that sound like "avoiding troubles for family members" and "recovering as soon as possible after giving birth" have undoubtedly touched women's sensitive nerves.
Let's look at these controversial guidelines:
1. Don't give up doing housework at the beginning of pregnancy, because you don't need extra exercise to help keep fit. For example, stretching forward when cleaning the floor helps stretch the muscles of the back, shoulders and arms.
2. Near the expected date of delivery, remember to clean up the expired food in the refrigerator to avoid family eating by mistake, and prepare fast food such as fried sauce, curry and soup in advance, because my husband is definitely "not good at cooking".
3. Check whether there are enough daily necessities such as soap, toilet paper and toothpaste at home before birth, so as not to bring inconvenience to the family.
4. Help her husband to store clothes for 3 to 7 days to ensure that pregnant women have clean clothes to wear after delivery.
5. Because you can't wash your hair immediately after delivery, remind pregnant women to remember to buy hair bands or hair bands to avoid looking unkempt after delivery.
6. After the child is born, you can hang the small clothes in a place where it is easy to see. Whenever you want to overeat or don't want to exercise, look at them and urge yourself.
In fact, this guide for pregnant women has been published on the government website of 20 19, and its content has been recognized by the Korean Medical Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, with the aim of "avoiding inconvenience to family members". It was uploaded to the internet only recently, causing an uproar.
A guide full of sexism has also been criticized by major media and netizens in South Korea, because it reveals the rigid concept of housework division of the government:
"Was this written by people in the1970s?" "What do I see? Is it really 202 1 this year? "
"It is good to buy food, and it is good for the housework husband to worry about it. It's not that he won't or has no hands. People who have never been pregnant rarely pretend to understand there. It's tiring to be pregnant and have a baby. It is not easy to make money than a husband, and it is even harder for women to add up. "
"It's ridiculous. It is very hard to support the body in the late pregnancy, so let pregnant women clean the refrigerator and prepare side dishes. Who wrote too ignorant? "
"Do they still think that married women are their husbands' nannies? "
"The government tries to sacrifice women's rights and interests, and wants to increase the fertility rate but ignores women's rights and interests."
"This is actually discrimination against men. You can't even cook for yourself. How can you raise a child? It is a woman who has done everything for you, so there will be a buying and selling marriage and a single life. "
Some netizens even ridiculed the government that "this is simply encouraging singles".
But some people say that the criticism of netizens is too much.
A 42-year-old lawyer who recently gave up his career and returned to family life said that it might be more useful if the tone of the tour guide was less like a middle-aged Korean man or an elderly Korean mother-in-law.
Still disgruntled netizens launched a petition signed by more than 20,000 people in Cheongwadae, demanding that the Seoul government cancel outdated pregnancy advice, publicly apologize and punish the responsible officials. Some members of Congress also jumped out to criticize the guide.
Yong Hye-in, an activist and politician, sharply commented on Twitter, "A better strategy is to divorce, rather than marry a man who won't throw away rotten food."
In fact, this is not the first time that the official guide of the Korean government has caused controversy. In 20 18, a guide to sex education for senior high school students issued by the local government put forward that "girls must work hard on their appearance and boys must work hard to improve their financial resources" in order to find the perfect life partner.
It is also pointed out that men who are generous in dating should "compensate", otherwise there is a great risk of "date rape"; If women are sexually harassed in transportation, it is suggested that they pretend to accidentally step on each other's feet instead of scolding each other.
At that time, it triggered criticism from the whole network, and being attacked was taking the lead in destroying the concept of gender.
Although South Korea has become an economic power, we can see that the whole environment is unfriendly to women from this guide to pregnant women full of gender discrimination and gender stereotypes.
In the traditional social concept of Korea, pregnant women are not only regarded as "incapable", but also regarded as women's responsibilities in housework and childcare, bearing the double burden of family and workplace.
According to a report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 20 17, among the 37 member countries, South Korea has the highest gender pay gap. The income of professional women is nearly 40% lower than that of men. Many women stop working after giving birth, usually under the pressure of family and workplace.
The film Jin Zhiying Born in 1982 shows the social pressure suffered by Korean women to the fullest.
When I was a child, I had to meet my father's expectations for a well-behaved daughter.
To form a family, we must meet the husband's expectations of a good wife and mother and a good housekeeping;
To be a mother, we should meet the children's expectation of having a 24-hour full-time mother.
From an early age, I was taught that "men's expectations must be met first at different stages", but the environment around them gave back inequality everywhere.
The students' seat numbers are arranged by boys, and it is the girls' own fault that they are bullied by male students. The admission rate of women in the workplace is less than 30%, and we must tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace. When we thought these were just the plot of the film, a pregnant woman's guide full of discrimination against women pushed these dark sides to the public.
Whether it's an outdated guide for pregnant women or unfair treatment in the workplace, the strong public reaction to it also shows that the public's attitude is changing.
In the face of unfair treatment full of gender discrimination, there are both channels of public reprimand and equal awareness of rights, instead of letting women silently accept the high expectations given by "a good wife and a good mother" as in the past, and taking "patience" and "dedication" as the motto of life.
This generation of enlightened parents can also instill correct gender knowledge and equality awareness into their children through words and deeds to prevent them from learning biased and wrong concepts.
There are many obstacles to achieving gender equality, and the implementation of relevant laws and regulations in different countries may be put on the agenda. In the whole society, you, me and him also need supervision, discussion and reflection.
Most importantly, as a woman, we should always stay awake and conscious, respect ourselves and other women, and don't easily accept gender labels given by others.